Queensland opposition leader Tim Nicholls, campaigning in Emerald. He said it would be arrogant not to work with One Nation if that’s who was elected.
Photograph: Dan Peled/AAP

After nearly three weeks of avoiding the question, the Queensland LNP leader, Tim Nicholls, has indicated he would form government with One Nation, saying he would “work with the parliament that the people of Queensland provide”.

The former prime minister John Howard, who decreed in the 1990s that the Pauline Hanson-led party should be put last on how-to-vote cards, on Friday told a Brisbane audience the Greens were now “the real extremists of Australian politics”.

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It’s the final shift in the LNP’s relationship with One Nation, which looks set to take at least four seats in the 25 November poll, and could hold the balance of power, depending on the results of other three-way contests.

After refusing to say during the leaders’ debate on Thursday night whether he would accept One Nation’s support to form government, Nicholls conceded on Friday he could have performed better, and said he would work with the parliament presented to him.

“I think it would be the height of arrogance to hold a gun to the people of Queensland’s heads as Annastacia Palaszczuk has said and say: ‘I won’t respect your views’,” he said from Charleville in western Queensland

“I will. And I will work with whoever the people of Queensland provide. I am happy to work with whoever is there, it’s not just One Nation. There are potentially many other people depending on how the vote goes. We have got the Katter party who are already there and there are a plethora of independents. We have something like 460 candidates this election. I think the job of the leader of any party is to say we will respect the views of the people of Queensland, not simply to arrogantly dismiss it.”

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Back in Brisbane, John Howard was hosting a fundraiser for an under-siege LNP candidate, and said he would not speculate on a hung parliament for Queensland. He did not back One Nation policies and advised voters to analyse what the outlier party put forward. But he agreed with the LNP’s decision to preference the Greens last in every seat the party is running in.

Breaking from tradition and following in the footsteps of the Western Australian Liberals, the LNP executive voted to preference One Nation higher than Labor in 50 of the 61 seats in which it has a candidate.

“I think the LNP are absolutely right to put the Greens last,” Howard said. “In my view, the Greens are the real extremists of Australian politics, whether it is in Queensland or NSW or anywhere. So my starting proposition would be ... you put the Greens last.

“Now I think what Tim Nicholls has had to say about One Nation preferences and so forth is spot on and I support what he has said.”

Howard’s appearance in the LNP’s campaign has made Malcolm Turnbull’s absence all the more conspicuous. The prime minister is expected to appear at the official campaign launch later this weekend.